ORCHESTRA

The Orchestra of the Greek National Opera was founded in 1939 alongside the opera company, then a part of the Royal Theatre. Its opera repertoire includes everything from Monteverdi to contemporary composers and the orchestra performs also symphonic music. It has been conducted by acclaimed conductors, such as Odysseas Dimitriades, Antiochos Evangelatos, Totis Karalivanos, Miltiades Caridis, Andreas Paridis, Dimitri Chorafas, Armando Gatto, Franco Capuana, Nicola Rescigno and Tullio Serafin among others. It has also worked with famous Greek and foreign soloists such as Yannis Angelopoulos, Zoe Vlachopoulou, Petros Epitropakis, Nicola Zaccaria, Dimitra Theodossiou, Dimitri Kavrakos, Maria Callas, Marina Krilovici, Odysseas Lappas, Nicola Moscona, Titos Xirellis, Kostas Paskalis, Margherita Perras, Jeannette Pilou, Antigone Sgourda, Jon Vickers, Nicola Ghiuselev, Tito Gobbi, Maria Guleghina, Nicola Martinucci, Carlo Bergonzi, Paata Burchuladze, Leo Nucci, Ghena Dimitrova, Rolando Panerai, Leonie Rysanek, Renata Scotto, Giuseppe Taddei, Giuseppe Giacomini, and more. Its chief conductor is Elias Voudouris. In 2000, the GNO Orchestra was awarded the Apollo Prize from the Friends of the Greek National Opera society.